LETTERS

Cloudy vision?

John BALZAR asks "So, how can you resist?" about the general aviation industry's bid to make private piloting fashionable ("It's the Air Up There," June 5). Mr. Balzar, please consider:

* the last time your quiet was ruined by the angry whine of a private plane (or have we grown too used to that abuse?)

* the last time The Times reported on a fatal small plane crash into a residential neighborhood (not many people walk away from this kind of accident)

* our country's ominously growing loss of energy independence.

Hummer-think emerges in this piece when Balzar describes a feeling of power as the real personal benefit of private piloting. Mr. Balzar, it is very easy for me to resist this come-on when I take a mature view of pleasure flying's real costs.